


Brain Full of Math

by fabrega



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen, Originally Posted on LiveJournal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-05
Updated: 2007-10-05
Packaged: 2019-10-01 04:59:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17237849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabrega/pseuds/fabrega
Summary: Boys like John are something of an anomaly on the MIT campus.





	Brain Full of Math

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written & posted on LJ in 2007, moved to AO3 in December 2018 with minor edits for spelling.

**_freshman year_ **

Boys like John are something of an anomaly on the MIT campus, wearing black t-shirts and black wristbands and riding their skateboards to class. His roommate, Steve, is a bit of a weirdo, with oversized glasses and canines filed down to sharp little points. They have more in common than John would have thought, but neither of them lets anyone else know.

John doesn't make many friends.

He meets a girl at a party. Her name is Colleen, and she's pretty in a conventional way. They hit it off okay and exchange phone numbers. John is more awkward than his wristbands suggest; he never calls her.

 

**_sophomore year_ **

John pops the lenses out of a pair of Steve's old glasses and wears them when he accompanies Steve to some MENSA meetings. He takes the test--and passes--but when the club's leader discovers that the glasses aren't real, he takes this as a mockery of nerds everywhere and doesn't let John join. He hadn't been certain how "smart" it was to be paying dues to an organization that tells you how smart you are anyway. He keeps the glasses.

He runs for president of the Math Club. He almost wins.

Colleen spots him in the hallway after his multivariable calculus class and corners him in taking her out for dinner. They date on and off for the rest of the year; the sex is okay.

 

**_junior year_ **

He brings Colleen home for Thanksgiving. His dad is a bit surprised, but courteous. He is less pleased by the other decision John is in the process of making--to join the Air Force when he graduates. John tries to explain: he's always loved things that go fast, and what goes faster than fighter jets? Besides, there are engineering jobs where he can use his math degree, so it isn't wasteful.

Like his dad said.

He and Steve have a collection of amusing street signs in their dorm room that they've stolen from various places. Their RA confiscates most of them at midterms, and Steve gets posters to make the room feel lived-in again. (Someday, when he gets his own place, he'll buy a copy of that Johnny Cash poster.)

 

**_senior year_ **

John's advisor tries to convince him that he's ideal for an eventual professorship, but John sees himself getting too antsy to be in school for that much longer. He bitches at Steve about how no one seems to want to let him make his own decisions.

He takes one last Spring Break trip by himself, an awkward week mostly drunk on a beach full of strangers.

He proposes to Colleen. She thinks for two weeks before she says yes. He's not really sure he wants to spend the rest of his life with her, but this doesn't seem like the sort of thing he's ever likely to know for certain, and if he does join the Air Force, it's easier to do now than after he enlists. The ceremony will be simple, unless Colleen's mother gets involved. John still hasn't met her, but he's pretty certain she'll disagree with Steve being his best man.

 

He and Steve get drunk, _really_ drunk, when finals are done.

"Four fuckin' years, man," Steve says, grinning. His teeth are still filed to frightening points. "We made it."

"I didn't know that much math existed," John muses. "And now it's all in my _brain_."

"The world can't stop a man with that much math in his brain!" declares Steve, and John just laughs, although deep down somewhere, he knows it's _true_.

 

*

 

Rodney shifts awkwardly in the mess hall chair. "So I, uh, I checked your file. You weren't kidding; you really do have a degree in math from MIT."

John says nothing, just takes another big bite of his hamburger and shrugs.

Rodney keeps talking to fill the silence, looking embarrassed. "Not a degree in hair gel and chatting up alien princesses, as I had previously thought." When John says nothing, he continues. "Why would you not mention something like that?"

This makes John pause. "It's not something I like to talk about."

"Why?"

"Because people like you react like this! It's not a big deal, Rodney."

(That is a lie.)


End file.
